Improving College Access

Posted on September 22, 2011

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or so the saying goes. If that saying is true, then the partners behind local College Access and KnowHow2Go efforts should be flattered. Earlier this month two additional College Access Coordinators began full-time work in St. Clair County, joining Richard Murphy, our region’s first Coordinator.

Raquel Hensley, from the University of Michigan, has joined Richard at Port Huron High School. David Lanore, from Michigan State University, has been assigned to Capac and Yale High Schools. Both are graduate students from the National College Advising Corps (advisingcorps.org), which is an innovative program that works to increase the number of low-income, first-generation college and underrepresented students who enter and complete higher education.

St. Clair County was one of the first counties in Michigan to have a full-time College Access Coordinator in Richard Murphy. Murphy’s position was created two years ago using financial support from one of the Acheson endowment funds at the Community Foundation, and the collaboration of Port Huron High School, the Port Huron Area School District, and the St. Clair County Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA).

The two new positions were made possible by the St. Clair County Regional Educational Service Agency, the National College Advising
Corps, and the Michigan College Access Network.